Method of cleaning fibers



METHOD OF CLEANING FIBERS v Filed Sept. 20. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lh-mdiii ia \NVENTOR r ATTORNE 5 May 22, 1934. AR NER 1,959,757

METHOD OF CLEANING FIBERS Filed sept. 2 0 19:50 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Q M+M ATTORNEYj" Patented May 22, 1934 METHOD OF CLEANING FIBERS Frederick P. Gardner,

New York, N. Y., assignor to Fabricord, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corpora- 7 tion of New York Application September 20, 1930, Serial No. 483,213

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of cleaning or scutching fibers and has for its object the removal of the woody part and other substance from fiber bearing plants, such as flax, hemp,

l jute, ramie, and the like.

Under its broader aspect the invention includes the separation of the fibers from the non-fibrous woody or pithy and gummy matter by intense disruptive actions which are applied alternately on 10 the opposite sides of the fiber containing plants or straws. The disruptive action is applied in such a manner as to break up and whip out the undesired non-fibrous matter.

The disruptive action may be in the form of whipping blows and is preferably applied in the direction of and along the length of the plant stalks or straws. The stalks or straws are held suspended, that is they are fed slowly in the direction of the whipping blows whereby the fiber itself is subjected to intense rippling or vibratory actions. ,The whipping action breaks up and the rippling or vibratory action shakes out the nonfibrous material from the fibrous material. The intensity of the whippingaction'rnay be varied 25 in difierent ways, as by increasing the amplitude of vibration of the fibrous material due to a difference of projections of the striking members which administer the whipping blowsor the distance between the disrupting members. A fur- :0 ther way of varying the intensity of the action is by increasing, or decreasing, the rate at which the blows are administered to a definite portion of material fed. A further mode of varying the varied by the manner in which the blows are de- 40 livered across stalks.

An important feature of applying the whipping blows is included in supplying proper cushioning means for the fibers ver which the fibers travel, when the whipping blows are applied thereto. The manner in which the fibers are cushioned has an the efiectiveness of the disruptive action administered by the whipping influences the rippling action and I find that the cushioning members may be movable or stationary as the case may be. In either instance the disruptive action will be infiuenced by the cushioning members.

There are other ways which suggest themselves to those versed in the-art and I apply the disruptive actions to the fiber in the manner set forth by any suitable apparatus, such as is disclosed in the attached drawings, in whicht Figure 1 shows the fiber suspended in a verti-, cal plane and subjected to whipping blows from 0 alternate sides as the fiber is suspended and slowly permitted to travel past the whipping medium. The fiber in this instance is suspended in a vertical plane and is caused to'travel over the cushioning members. The cushioning members 5 may be movable or stationary. It is obvious that instead of permitting the fiber to travel in a vertical plane it may be fed in a horizontal plane with the same effects.

In Figure 2 the fiber is fedeither from a vertical 7 position or from a horizontal position over a nately with the cushioning members on opposite sides of the moving fiber. -The fiber itself is passed over a movable cushioning member 13 which has supporting slats 14 of different sizes so as to cushion the fiber unevenly; This is for the-purpose of applying a greater disruptive action to the fiber bearing plant. The beater roll itself is supplied with beater blades 15 which also are of difierent sizes and are differently spaced so that the intensity of the beater action will be varied due to this irregularity of the beater blades. Obviously the rate at which the beater roll 12 rotates influences the effect of the beater action on the fibrousmaterial- This arrangement will impart. to the fiber bearing plant stalks intense vibratory action due to the high rate of speed at which the beater roll travels; This action obviously may be varied by the rate at which the roll is permitted to rotate or by the rate at which the fiber is fed over the cushioning bed.

In order to thoroughly et fect cleaning to any desired degree the fiber is subjected to whipping action from the opposite side, while the cushion'-'' ing member is applied on the side which heretofore had been subjected to the whipping action. This alternate cushioning and whipping action may be varied to the desired degree in order to meet the conditions under which the method is applied, that is to say, straws or fiber plants which are green, unretted and tough will require greater intensity of disruptive action than dry or retted fiber material. It should be noted, however, that my method will efliciently clean and soften fibers in the green (unretted)-state or in the dry and ripe (retted) state.

The conditions under which the fiber is subjected to the disruptive actions as illustrated in the apparatus shown in Fig. 2 is substantially the same as that just described. The fiber however is deflected from its path and passed over a stationary cushioning member 16 whereby more intense scutching is obtained than in the movable cushioning member illustrated for example by the device shown at 17. In either of the constructions illustrated by Figs. 1 or 2 it is obvious that the intensity of the disruptive action may also be varied by increasing or decreasing the distance between the whipping members and the cushioning members. The method therefore is capable of great flexibility and is applicable to the cleaning or scutching of fibrous materials as described above.

In this connection the apparatus defined and disclosed above is merely being taken as illustrative, rather than as specific for the reason that other forms of apparatus might suggest themselves to those versed in the art.

What I claim, therefore, as new and useful is:

1. That method of cleaning fiber which comprises subjecting the fiber contain'ng stalks or plants to a succession of rapid whipping blows of varying intensity mass and then on first on one side of the fiber the opposite side thereof.

2. That method of cleaning fiber which comprises subjecting the fiber co'ntaining stalks or plants to a succession of rapid whipping blows of varying intensity first. on one side of the fiber mass and then turning the fiber mass and subjecting the same to a rapid succession of whipping blows of varying intensities on the other side thereof. I v

3. That method of varying the intensity of the scutching action on fiber bearing plants or straws which comprises feeding said plants at a varying rate and imparting thereto a succession of blows of varying intensity.

4. That method of cleaning fiber bearing plants or straws which consists in varying the degree of scutching by varying the amplitude of the vibrations imparted to the fiber bearing plants or straws.

5. That method of cleaning fiber bearing plants or straws which comprises varying the intensity of scutching by varying the forceof the whipping blows on the moving fiber mass to impart intense ripplng action thereto.

6. That method of scutching fiber bearing plants or straws which comprises varying the intensity of scutching by varying the rate and number of whipping blows imparted to the moving fiber mass on alternately opposite sides.

7. That method of cleaning fiber bearing plants or straws by a rippling action which comprises varying the intensity of scutching by varying the rate at which the fiber mass is subjected to the rippling action.

FREDERICK P. GARDNER. 

